Your View: Options to high-stakes tests must be offered

Last year, on the day that MCAS was to be administered, my son was sick. He insisted that he wanted to attend school to take the test. He opened the test booklet and proceeded to answer test items when his teacher noticed that something was wrong. She sent him to the nurse, who called me. She stated: "He is clearly not well, ...

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By RICARDO D. ROSA

southcoasttoday.com

By RICARDO D. ROSA

Posted Mar. 14, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By RICARDO D. ROSA

Posted Mar. 14, 2014 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

Last year, on the day that MCAS was to be administered, my son was sick. He insisted that he wanted to attend school to take the test. He opened the test booklet and proceeded to answer test items when his teacher noticed that something was wrong. She sent him to the nurse, who called me. She stated: "He is clearly not well, but he opened the test booklet and risks having his test invalidated if he is sent home. We'll have him sit then send him back to the classroom to take the test. After the test we'll send him home." I was appalled. Ultimately, my son returned to take the MCAS, despite the early onset of the flu and my resistance. He felt compelled to test given the pressures. I don't mean to insinuate that nurses in our schools are incompetent. I think they perform quite well and would perform stellar if the system was adequately funded. What I do mean to say is that the regime of high-stakes testing in our schools is deeply disturbing and inhumane.

I write this letter to express my intent to opt my children out of high-stakes testing, whether the test is the MCAS, PARCC or any other hip acronym that comes along in the shape of a high-stakes test designed to oppress, standardize, anesthetize and ultimately suffocate students. I publicize this letter because it's not only my children that concern me. My children usually do well. High scores on high-stakes tests do not prove that true learning is occurring. Countless educational research has concluded that the use of high-stakes testing narrows the curriculum and encourages test preparation as a substitute for engaged learning. High-stakes tests are also deviance-producing mechanisms. A number of school systems across the country have been exposed for cheating and unethical practices due to the pressures of high-stakes testing. They are, in short, becoming Enron. Furthermore, our continuous focus on scoring well evades more important public dialogue about funding inequities and the root cause of educational disengagement — poverty. Allowing testing corporations to continue reaping billions of dollars in profit from public education only exacerbates the problem. Any administrator, school committee member or school functionary still standing before students, teachers and families touting the virtues of high-stakes testing should be ashamed. And, if you know that it's wrong but remain silent, you're complicit in educational malpractice.

Furthermore, subjecting English Language Learners to the MCAS and the PARCC after only having been in the country for one year is immoral. Emergent bilingual students are nine times more likely to drop out of high school than their peers. These tests are part of the problem. In addition, a high percentage of students with disabilities are not meeting graduation requirements as a result of these tests.

Countless educational researchers have concluded that measuring teacher effectiveness and school quality through high-stakes test scores is unreliable and unethical. Evaluating teachers in this manner does very little to improve the profession. Rather, it encourages great teachers to resign.

I strongly believe in accountability and high expectations of all students, teachers and administrators. However, high-stakes tests are about securing low expectations. Portfolios, performance-based and other forms of authentic assessments are more educationally sound. Standardized tests also have their place, but they should not be in the form of high stakes.

I encourage readers to read the "Massachusetts Statement Against High-Stakes Testing" [http://matestingstatement.wordpress.com/statement/] endorsed by countless professors in the state, myself included. As MCAS is imposed on our schools next week and the rest of the school year, I encourage parents to write letters opting students out and requesting an in-school alternative to high-stakes testing. If we're truly interested in ending bullying in schools, let's end the bullying of high-stakes testing. If families really have a "choice," they must be allowed to exercise the choice to opt-out.